The Difference Between Pregnancy in Movie's and Real Life
Summary: There is a distinctive difference between what is in the movies and what is in real life. No one can just casually race their sister and her car on foot and run through random people’s backyards, if someone did that in real life the cops would be called on them, and most of the doors would have been locked, but then again without the excitement that part of the movie would have been really lame. Something else that is shown falsely is pregnancy, more specifically teen pregnancy. The media portrays teen pregnancy in a way that makes it seem like it is not a big deal, something that happens all the time, which can be true, but it’s also something that shouldn’t be glorified. In teen movies, such as Juno, the movie shows a high school girl going through encounters of being pregnant at the age of sixteen. It touches on a few struggles, but not to a full extent. It doesn’t show you the real side of pregnancy, it just shows the social conflicts being faced by an inexperienced girl. When young girls see movies and TV shows like this they don’t think of the consequences of premature motherhood. They think everything will stay the same, except now they’ll have a baby with them, they don’t realize it’s almost social taboo. Not only is it harsh on their social life, but also on their bodies. A human being grows inside of a woman, she gains weight, she gets stretch marks, her feet swell, and none of this was really shown in Juno except the weight gain. This is a prime example of how the media can be very misleading. There is a big difference between what is on TV and what is in real life. The Sources In the movie Juno, a sixteen year old girl in high school becomes unexpectedly pregnant. The movie depicts the struggles she faces with keeping the baby, her peers at school, as well as her parents reaction, but what the movie fails to show is any sort of actual pregnancy struggle. The movie focuses on Juno’s decision between having an abortion and giving her baby up for adoption, she decides on adoption. Juno and her father meet the adoptive parents, she continues school, the viewer watches as she gains weight due to the baby continuing to grow, but what about the sides of pregnancy that every woman goes through? Such as mood swings, cravings, stretch marks, even back pain, none of this was shown in the movie. Instead the focus is on the adoptive parent’s relationship, and Juno’s relationship with the baby’s father. Yes both relationships are important, but again what kind of image are the writers of the movie trying to present here? The audience for this movie is young teenage girls, when they see something such as teen pregnancy being shown as not being a struggle on the pregnant girl, but mainly as a struggle on the adoptive parents, it’s misleading for them. In the article from Womenshealth.gov, stages of pregnancy, it mentions all of the symptoms a woman should expect during each trimester. In the article it lists out everything that is expected to happen to a woman’s body, each detail and pictures. Now of course young girls aren’t going to go looking at a pregnancy website to see what happens, and when it happens, but most of the basic effects such as heartburn, swollen feet, and stretch marks weren’t even exposed in the movie. Carrying a baby for nine months is no walk in the park, and the Women’s Health article describes that very well. Analysis At the beginning of the movie, it shows Juno taking a pregnancy test at this point in the pregnancy there aren’t many changes to the body. When she is meeting the adoptive parents she is at the very end of her first trimester, this far in she should be experiencing morning sickness, body aches, and swelling of the feet, fingers and face. Although it is hard to show these aspects, the writers failed completely too even mention her battles up until this point with her body. Winter comes around in the movie, and Juno is very noticeably pregnant, her belly has gotten rather big, but again symptoms that would typically accompany the third trimester are not being shown. This point in a woman’s pregnancy comes with difficulty sleeping, false contractions, more swelling and extreme discomfort, but in the movie it shows weird eating habits, such as eating everything in sight, which would have begun shortly after she found out she was pregnant. This happens a lot throughout the movie, the image of pregnancy is falsely shown. 'Word of Advice...' Freshman, when you get to college and you start to see all of the different things you can become involved in don’t just look at the surface of the club. Instead, do a little research. When young girls watch Juno they don’t see the actual consequences of pregnancy and what it can do to their body, instead they see the surface. If you only view the exterior of something you will never understand the full meaning. My advice to you is to look into clubs, don’t just judge it from hearing things about it, dig a little deeper. This can go for anything in your life, don’t just listen to what the media has to say, if it truly interests you, then check out it for yourself instead of just going off of what people say. Citations N., A. "Stages of Pregnancy." Women's Health. 27 09 2010: 1. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. http://megashare.info/watch-juno-online-TVRJMw